Jeannius 2007

I recently had the great pleasure of sailing Jeannius (a Privilege 43) from Martinique to the TMM base on Tortola. Mike Beswick, the owner, had sailed her to St. Lucia to watch the championship rounds of the Cricket matches and we then met Mike and Jean (for whom Jeannius is named!) at the Marin Harbor on Martinique. My wife and I had the opportunity (of a lifetime!) to have our entire family (children now grown and scattered) and other DSC members Eve Carswell and Bill and Kathy Buckley. Our trip was about 350 nm over 10 days and included the islands/countries of Martinique, Iles de Saintes, Guadeloupe, Nevis, Statia, St. Martin (Marigot), Anguilla and BVI. Rather than give a rambling commentary I will just hit the highlights, and otherwise:

Highlights:

Just sailing Jeannius day after day. Mike has and maintains a beautiful, beautiful yacht. The most comfortable and well equipped (autopilot, genset, A/C, radar, chart plotter, etc.) I have ever sailed.
The overnight sail of Anegada Passage (sometimes known as “Ohmygawda”). The wind was light over our starboard quarter, seas moderate, used full main only with preventer, clear sky and it was the April 2 FULL MOON! Perhaps my most memorable sail. And, Virgin Gorda popped up on the horizon the next morning, right when and where it was supposed to.
Montserrat. Sailed close by on the windward side of the active volcano and could observe many steam vents and smoking rock slides cascading down the side.

Redonda. Sailed close by on the windward side and watched rather spectacular waves crashing into the rock. (Laura – sorry, we did not find your bottle or Kit’s hat!)
Deshaies. Really pretty little harbor and town on the northwest corner of Guadeloupe.
Two great dinners in BVI – Corsairs on JVD (Vinny was great, as usual) and the Dove – a “hidden jewel” across the street from the ferry dock on Tortola (great food and staff.)
My daughter threw a wonderful birthday party (we are NOT discussing which birthday!) for me at the Barrel Stay on Anguilla. Her family had arrived on Anguilla for a shore-based holiday so my son-in-law and 2 grandsons were also there (grandsons ended up sleeping on beach chairs right on the beach!) The birthday present from my family? Stabilized binoculars! They work great while on a moving platform; that would be a sailboat.

Lowlights:

Nevis. This may be a great spot for a shore-based holiday, but it is not set up for transient boats. The only dock for public use is about 5 feet above sea level; most of us simply could not climb that from a dingy. Rollers prevented landing a dingy on the beach (but Pinney’s Beach really is beautiful). My sons (mild mannered guys in their 30’s) went ashore and actually felt threatened by some locals.
Sahara dust. All the middle part of the trip we had this fine, reddish dust finding its way into everything onboard.
No wind and then wrong direction. We used Jeannius as a powerboat all the way to Nevis. My log for 29Mar07, 1300hrs: “N17.01.4, W62.29.7; Barometer 1012; clear skies; wind speed 5; wind direction WEST!!!” Then when the trade winds finally kicked in and we wanted to sail from Statia to St. Barths, the best we could do to windward was St. Martin – that is why sailing is “going toward, not to”.
Anguilla National Park. We paid the extra $$ to use their offshore park (like BVI, no anchoring allowed). However, every mooring pennant (pendant??) was shredded. I later “discussed” this with them and explained I was happy to support their park system but that it isn’t nice to charge for something you can’t deliver.
I broke my left hand little finger! But, I am not admitting to anyone (except my wife) how it happened!
Clearing customs and immigration in BVI. As mentioned in a concurrent thread about C&I, this was more painful and time consuming than clearing all the other islands COMBINED.

All in all, simply a wonderful trip. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Nolan North

Photo Credits: Eve Carswell